Taint Me a Portrait
by phoenixtears07
Summary: It was a chance to end the age old war. So, why then would his hands shake at the mere thought of never again seeing those golden eyes? Dark/Krad


Title: Taint Me a Portrait

Author: phoenixtears07

Pairings: Dark/Krad

Genre: Romance, Angst

Summary: It was a chance to end the age old war. So, why then would his hands shake at the mere thought of never again seeing those golden eyes?

Warnings: mild shounen ai/boy's love or whatever it's called (you've been warned so don't complain), some language (*cough*just once*cough*), overused plotline(?), OOC-ness, stupid title (it amused me at the time I wrote this), etc. (aka anything else that requires a warning)

Disclaimer: I do not own DN Angel. Nor do I own the song "Lucifer's Angel" by The Rasmus.

~~X~~

Dark tried to catch his breath as he stared at the bundle of white cloth and gold hair lying several feet away. It had been a hard battle, but he just barely came out the victor. Struggling to his feet, Dark quickly swiped the Royal Solace from its case before Krad woke up.

Artwork in hand, he limped over to the fallen angel. A well-aimed white feather had sliced open his thigh. Thankfully, it was a shallow wound.

Just as he stood over the white-clad hunter, Krad's eyes fluttered open, pinning Dark with a feral gaze that wouldn't be out of place on a hungry panther. He had always admired Krad's eyes. Long ago before they learned to hate, those eyes had been the color of fresh honey. Warm and shining with love and affection.

But, halcyon days were never meant to last.

Dark's leg gave out on him and he fell to his knees. Reaching out a shaking hand, he traced the curve of Krad's pale cheek. Surprise flickered in Krad's eyes then an almost nostalgic look of half-remembered warmth and soul-aching sorrow for what had once been theirs.

_**Behind those eyes**_

_**Lies the truth and grief**_

"I'm sorry."

The words escaped Dark's lips before he realized he had even spoken.

The vulnerability vanished from Krad's eyes to be replaced with unspoken fury and barely leashed hate. Yet, the angel's lips curved up into a sweet smile. Then a soft chuckle thrummed in Krad's chest. It didn't take long for him to burst into full-blown laughter.

And, it didn't take long for Krad to cough and spit up blood, for Dark had managed to hit the blonde's throat earlier in their fight. It was surprising that Krad's trachea hadn't been crushed under the harsh blow.

All the while, the twisted emotions in those golden eyes glared at Dark.

"Fuck you, Mousy."

_**Behind those beautiful smiles**_

_**I've seen tragedy**_

Dark winced at the ragged exclamation spat through a torn throat. His hand, still resting on Krad's flawless face, shifted to the angel's vulnerable throat. The fleeting thought of strangling the blond passed through his mind. It would solve so many problems. Daisuke would be safe. The Niwa family wouldn't have to fear the next generation of Hikari because the artist family would end here on the gleaming museum floor with Satoshi.

And, he would never again look into those fiery golden eyes, now daring him to end the centuries-long war. All it would take was to tighten his grip for a few minutes. Krad was too injured to struggle much.

Could he do it? Could he watch those eyes fill with the fearful knowledge that the end was near? Could he watch as the fire in Krad's eyes dulled, glazed over with death?

There was a metallic clang as the crown he came to steal clattered to the ground.

Dark wrapped his second, now free, hand around Krad' throat. His ragged breath shuddered out with great difficulty.

And still, those eyes he once loved watched him unblinkingly. Daring. Mocking. Sneering.

"_Dark! Dark! Look what I found!"_

_**The flawless skin**_

_**Hides the secrets within**_

He hated these old memories, that innocent voice that always haunted his dreams. Dark knew it was difficult for his host, for anyone nowadays, to believe that Krad had been innocent once, had once taken pleasure in finding a perfect white rose blooming in the garden.

But, he remembered. Dark could recall with painful clarity the excitement Krad displayed upon the discovery and the disappointment when he couldn't find a black rose to match.

"_One for me and one for you."_

He had loved that innocence once. Dark had loved everything about Krad because the white angel was the personification of every human virtue. Kindness. Innocence. Selflessness. Forgiveness. Love.

_While I am the personification of sin. And because of my nature and his, I could not help but want to taint him. To turn that flawless white into a despicable gray._

_**The silent forces**_

_**That secretly ignite your sins**_

"_I'm sorry, Dark. I looked everywhere for a black one."_

Krad never understood their dual nature. He had accepted Dark unconditionally without wondering about why Dark saw things so differently.

Yin and yang. Good and evil. Light and dark.

Krad didn't see the world in those terms. To the white angel, Dark's sin-black wings were beautiful. And the longer he stayed around Krad, the more Dark wanted the pure angel in all the impure ways. It had been inevitable.

The first time Dark kissed the blond, Krad had been confused but smiled at him nonetheless.

The angel should have run then. Krad should have turned his back and left Dark to his shadowed thoughts and twisted lusts. But, it wasn't in Krad's nature to deny Dark what he saw as innocent displays of affection.

Thus, Dark slowly, inevitably pulled Krad onto the twisted path that would lead them here centuries later with Krad, injured and hateful, at the mercy of the one who began it all.

_**Fly away, fly away**_

_**From the torch of blame**_

But as he had tainted Krad, the blonde's original emotions infected Dark. He learned mercy and love while Krad lost his.

"Why do you hesitate? I am at your mercy, am I not? We are enemies, are we not? Should you not finish what you so selfishly began all those years ago?"

Krad's voice echoed in the eerily silent room.

He didn't answer.

Dark couldn't look away from those eyes. He had loved them once in his desire to taint them. But now, he wanted the old Krad back. The one who would smile and laugh for him as easily as shed tears for him.

He knew it was impossible. White, once stained, would never be the same again. The flawless angel he once knew would only ever exist in his memories.

"_I love you, Dark."_

His hands shook.

Then Dark was gone in a swirl of ink-black feathers, taking the Royal Solace with him.

_I love you, too, Krad. I still do. I always will. And, I wish I can turn that ugly gray back into the perfect white you once were. But, I cannot undo my own sins. Nor can I kill you because you are the only thing I have ever valued above my own life._

Dark never acknowledged the tears that streamed down his face as they fell to the world far beneath him.

_**Beyond these clouds**_

_**You can hide all your tears**_

Golden eyes watched the thief's sudden departure. Long after the sounds of feathers had faded away into the night, Krad still laid where he was.

He should have known that Dark couldn't do it. The thief had softened over time while he hardened himself against the world. They were too different now.

But then again, they had always been different. Dark was his balance as he was Dark's. Even now, they were perfect compliments to each other. One lost virtues and embraced sins far beyond his understanding. The other abandoned sins to grasp fruitlessly for virtues always out of his reach.

"What a pair we make, Dark."

Only when he was alone would he dare speak that name. It was fear that stilled his tongue from calling out to the one he loved. It was so much easier to spit out that mocking nickname in a hateful tone. Mousy. A fitting name for a coward, a backstabber.

Krad didn't want to admit that he still felt something for the thief. He hadn't completely lost his old self, and affection still came easily to him. But, he didn't dare utter even a trace of his true feelings because it would give Dark an advantage over him.

Even so, he could not completely hide his soft spot for the thief. It was in the way he allowed Dark to escape every time. It was in the way he purposefully avoided giving Dark any fatal wounds, for if he killed Dark, he would have to wait until another generation to see his thief again.

It was in the way he feared speaking Dark's name out loud because he knew he would not be able to keep his true feelings hidden.

"There are days I wish I could hate you."

"_I love you, Krad. You'll never leave me, right?"_

Gold receded and was replaced with blue as Krad retreated into his Tamer's mindscape, the only place he could feel remotely safe from the world.

_How could I, Dark? I am nothing without you. You who betrayed me then turned your back on me when I needed you most. Why can I still not leave you? Why do I still love you?_

_**Beyond this world**_

_**You'll be safe from their wicked fears**_

~~X~~

This is the shortest oneshot I have ever been able to write. *Sniff* I'm so proud of myself.

Anyway, all the italics and bolds can be confusing so:

"_memory of what Krad or Dark said long, long ago"_

_Plain italics are thoughts_

_**Bold italics are song lyrics **_

I would have put this in the beginning but…I wanted to be different?

As for what Dark did to Krad in the good old days, it's up to your imagination.


End file.
